“At the moment it is very difficult with the wind direction that keeps changing and the large area.”

Smith said it was difficult to determine the source of the fire as the wind direction kept changing.

Richard Middelmann said on Tuesday the fire broke out along the R43 near the Karwyderskraal turnoff about 10km outside Hermanus.

“A howling NW (north-westerly) pushed the fire across very dry veld towards the Afdaks river nursery. We sprayed out multiple tanks from my skid unit and managed to contain the left flank before we were deployed elsewhere to help douse the fire.”